Photo: Four years of historic rains have submerged farmlands, ancestral homes and roads, turning the main IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camp in Bentiu into an island hemmed in by dykes. ©UNHCR / Andrew McConnell

For our 'Practitioners' Corner' feature of the December 2025 Newsletter, we were lucking enough to sit down with Ms Marion Arnaud, working in the UN Department of Peace Operations with the Climate Security Mechanism Joint Programme (JP CSM). We put some questions to her about the work of the CSM, its work in South Sudan (a photo of which featured in the October edition of the Newsletter), and how the Joint Programme will be moving forward in 2026. 

1. Could you briefly introduce the Joint Programme on Climate Security Mechanism (JP CSM), and its main objectives? 

The Climate Security Mechanism (CSM) is a United Nations inter-agency initiative established in 2018 to strengthen the UN’s capacity to systematically address the complex linkages between climate change, peace, and security (CPS). Recognizing that climate change exacerbates fragility and conflict risks, the CSM aims to bridge climate action with peace and security agendas, ensuring integrated responses across global, regional, national, and local levels. The Joint Programme, initially launched in 2020 and now being extended through Phase III (2023–2028), builds on lessons learned to scale up good practices, expand service offerings, and maximize catalytic impact in vulnerable contexts. 

The CSM draws on the complementary expertise of DPO, DPPA, UNDP and UNEP, and for its next phase, will count with operational support from UNOPS. Its work spans policy development, knowledge generation, and targeted local initiatives, including deploying Climate, Peace and Security Advisors to mission and non-mission settings.   

Main Objectives: 

i. Support analysis and action through integrated risk assessments and forward-looking management strategies in climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected areas. 

ii. Advocacy, partnerships and convening with global, regional and national actors to harmonize climate action, peace and security policies   

iii. Co-generate and manage knowledge by consolidating evidence, tools, and good practices to inform reporting on climate, peace and security and response strategies.   

iv. Capacity building of policymakers and practitioners to develop policies and programmes to address interlinkages between climate change, environmental degradation, peace and security. 

By fostering multi-disciplinary collaboration, promoting gender equality and inclusion, and enhancing early warning and preparedness, the JP CSM seeks to create resilient societies capable of coping with climate stressors and shocks while sustaining peace. 

 

2. The October 2025 MPTFO newsletter featured a striking image that captured South Sudan’s vulnerability to climate risks. Could you elaborate on the key activities funded by the JP CSM in South Sudan? Which partners and stakeholders have been engaged in this initiative, and how was coordination managed among the implementing agencies? 

In 2024, South Sudan faced one of its worst climate shocks in recent history. Unprecedented flooding submerged villages, displaced over 380,000 people, and disrupted the lives of 1.4 million. Beyond the humanitarian crisis, the floods intensified competition over scarce resources and heightened the risk of intercommunal violence.  

At the heart of this effort of the Climate Security Mechanism is the deployment of a UN Climate, Peace and Security Advisor in South Sudan. Jointly with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and with the UN Country Team, the Advisor and his team provided critical analysis that informed South Sudan’s National Flood Preparedness and Response Plan, ensuring it addressed not only logistical needs but also the drivers of conflict linked to climate stress.  

Technical innovations followed: a Flood Management and Conflict Sensitivity Dashboard and Database was developed to track flood impacts, population movements, and cohabitation dynamics among communities across 243 high-ground relocation sites, while CPS indicators were integrated into early warning systems and UN situational analysis tools. 

Community engagement was equally vital. The extensive  2024 floods forced  women and girls to crowd into the limited higher ground available, which heightened the risk of violence, including gender-based violence.  Meanwhile, men were often compelled to migrate with cattle, sparking violent clashes over grazing rights. Over 30 flood sensitization campaigns and peace dialogues helped defuse tensions. A landmark workshop in November 2024 to embed gender-responsive approaches in climate and security planning, was organized  together with the  Ministries of Gender and the Environment. It was described by the CPS team in South Sudan as a milestone in advancing gender-responsive CPS planning and policy. 

Capacity building was extended to civil society as well as specialized training for 43 UN Police officers, including units tackling cattle raiding. 

This initiative exemplifies collaboration among UN, regional, national and civil society actors, coordinated through joint planning, along with regular reporting to the Security Council.  

The impact of CPS work in South Sudan is clear in lives protected through coordinated, timely action. Effective interventions, jointly with efforts to ease community tensions, can shift crisis trajectories and strengthen resilience.  

With major floods again underway in 2025, the stakes are high. But the South Sudan experience offers a powerful example of how UN peacekeepers and humanitarians can work hand-in-hand to build resilience, before the next crisis hits. 

[See article on the work in the flood response: Joining Forces for a Conflict-Sensitive Flood Response in South Sudan | Climate Security Mechanism]  

 

3. Building on the achievements in 2024, how is the JP CSM progressing in 2025 as it approaches the conclusion of Phase III in December?  

In 2025 the CSM has more firmly established itself as the UN’s global hub on climate, peace and security, taking stock of its achievements and leading strategic reflections on its role in a highly dynamic landscape. This led to an update of the CSM Joint Programme Document for 2026-2028.  

Over the year, the CSM has continued to enable vital programming and shape responses to CPS risks in some of the world’s most vulnerable locations through policy support, technical advice, embedded operational expertise, and localized analysis. 10 Advisors are currently deployed to UN missions and regional organizations - the latest being the CPS Advisor to the Pacific Islands Forum, onboarded in June torespond to a request by Pacific States. These Advisors have continued to provide analysis and action support, as showcased at the CSM Partnership Dialogue convened in Addis Ababa and online in June. 

Through the work of Advisors in 2025, several national and regional frameworks—such as National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and climate resilience strategies among others — were supported to integrate climate-related peace and security risks. Among them is the Liptako-Gourma region, where Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger developed the first-ever Climate, Peace, and Security National Strategic and Action Plans — the first dedicated CPS policies globally. The Advisors also contributed to gender-sensitive risk assessments and political analyses, helping governments and partners better understand how climate impacts intersect with conflict dynamics.  

Advocacy, knowledge and partnerships have expanded globally, with three advocacy tools and guidance products co-developed, four knowledge products and tools shared, and four new policy-level partnerships established to promote collaboration and exchange in the first half of 2025. In 2025, the CSM released its first global Survey of Practice on CPS. It summarizes lessons learned, and knowledge gained from its small but growing cadre of CPS Advisors. 

Capacity building has been a strong focus too, with local and global training programmes and tools developed to advance integrated CPS risk management, climate finance and policy, and predictive analytics — many of them co-developed reaching practitioners across and beyond the UN. The CSM has delivered or supported training engagements for over 240 practitioners and policymakers across the UN and beyond in2025.